In The Eyes Of The Beholder
by Shyro Foxfeather
Summary: [Magic Kaitou] Sequel to Do Not Mess With Funky Gems. Hakuba's turn to be a mental case! [On Hiatus]
1. The First Chapter

In The Eyes Of The Beholder

Chapter 1

By Shyro Foxfeather

Hakuba sat bleakly in his chair staring at the chalkboard with a distant look in his eyes. His mind drifted less towards the teacher's rambles of how linear has changed the world as we know it and more on board of the topic of one eccentric high school magician.

Kaito had been acting unusually strange for the past few days. Ever since the heist where the Kid had crashed brutally into that building. He winced at the memory.

His breath had hitched in his throat at the time and he could scarcely breath as he watched the glider snap and fling the thief over that building ledge. Hakuba had snuck onto the roof at the time, thinking the thief would attempt to use the slanted rooftop as a stage for his usual arrogance. He had, in mere concern, chased after the thief by deduction of the odd flight pattern and a trail of patches of silk and metal poles that had broken down upon impact with said building structure.

Just as he had rounded the corner towards where he imagined the Kid had fallen—which he noted, with bitter amusement, contained a river—he was stopped by a brilliant lime green light that lit up the area. He shielded his eyes cursing at what was probable to be the Kids self-preservation tactics, as he must have seen the detective coming. Taken aback and temporarily blinded by the after affects of the assumed 'flash bomb,' Hakuba had stumbled away from the scene knowing it did him little good to stay and confront the thief like this if he was even still there.

He vaguely remembered guiding himself back to Inspector Nakamori, who quickly called for one of the more trustworthy officers to take Hakuba back home.

The next day his eyes returned to normal and Hakuba had wondered briefly if he should get an eye examination just to make sure. However that seemed a little over the top for a mere flash bomb so he quelled the little niggling voice in the back of his head.

Now he was once again staring off into space wondering why the boy had been so off kilter the last few days. Kuroba had seemed happy enough this morning until Hakuba began to approach him. This sent the magician sprinting out of the courtyard screaming bloody murder.

However, Hakuba changed the topic to the strange twinge in the back of his mind that resided there as it had for the past few days. It was really bothering him, too. It only seemed to present itself in Kuroba's presence and never otherwise. And the closer his classmate was, the stronger the feeling was. No. It was not love, although he wouldn't deny that his feelings for the bandit were a little more than friendly, it was more a foreign feeling. An unnatural one.

If it were a stress related disease he'd blame Kaito and leave it at that…

Later…

The school bells had rung their final toll of the day and Hakuba had yet to figure out an answer to any of his problems. He scooped his pack up and proceeded to the locker room—the one for students books and shoes, not the physical education changing room—and was somewhat surprised to find a fuming Aoko already there growling obscenities. She abruptly flopped to the wooded floor and hurriedly attempted to slip off her school shoes and wedge her feet into the light blue sneakers that she had held aloft just moments ago.

"You seem to be in a nasty mood." Hakuba commented dryly as he unlatched his own locker. Aoko glanced up at him, stunned by his sudden appearance. "What did Kuroba-kun do now?" He asked smartly.

Aoko huffed as she stood again. "He ditched me!" She screeched, outrage flooding through each word. "I was about to tell him to wait—I wanted to talk to him—and he just ran off! He's hardly even spoken to any of us since we went to the ice cream parlor!" She sulked. Her flames of fury dying down slowly as weariness took its place.

Hakuba frowned. An ache of jealously joining the odd 'twinge' in the back of his mind. He quickly pushed it aside. He knew that Aoko had feelings for the boy as well and they could certainly rival his own any time of the day. It still didn't help to hear about it knowing that in the end probability proved Kuroba would choose the mousy haired girl. The proof was in the magician's eyes as he looked at her. That soft kind affection he knew was never turned on himself.

For Aoko's sake he ignored these torrents of emotion for the more noble cause of helping the girl. She had, after all, done nothing wrong.

"Do you want me to help you find him?" He asked. She looked up again eyes filled with a determination.

"Yes! We'll find him and make him pay! He won't be ditching me again anytime soon!" She cheered.

Akako, bag in hand and shoes on feet, nonchalantly glided over with a wry look on her features. "You're hunting down Kuroba-kun?" She asked, a wicked gleam in her eyes. "If so, I want to help."

Aoko nodded pleased by the forces that had assembled before her. She had friends and they were going to help her knock some sense into that boy even if it took all day!

Outside…

As Hakuba and company approached the school gates they came upon a very startling conclusion. They had no idea where to start looking. As Aoko and Akako chattered over the possible places Kaito could have gone, Hakuba was busy with his own trouble.

The pang that had made itself a resident in Hakuba's head was beginning to act up and he was beginning to question his sanity. It was strange really. The feeling—or, for lack of better word, aura—that radiated from the theiving magician was beginning to materialize in Hakuba's mind as if he was nearby. Hakuba froze as an image began to form without his consent or control.

A house? He saw a house. It was a two-story house with an attic of some sort on top so technically that made it a three-story house. It had what looked like two chimney like towers planted atop the steep rooftop. There were windows here and there, placed creatively in different spots. It also had an iron fence.

With an address.

Hakuba's hair stood on end as this picture formed in his mind. That was… New. He blinked and the now familiar feeling seemed to pull it, as if magnetically towards the location it had shown him.

Before he gave into the impulse that was pulling him forward he realized that Aoko and Akako had quieted and were staring at him. A smug smile donned Akako's lips as Aoko tilted her head in confusion.

"Hakuba-kun? Are you okay? You look like you've just seen a ghost." Aoko frowned.

Akako smirked. "Do _you _know any place where Kuroba-kun may have gone?" She asked as if she knew the answer. Which she may have for all he knew.

"Yes. I seem to don't I?" Hakuba realized with wide eyes.

TBC…

Disclaimer: Nor my minions or I are the caretakers of the animes we engrave stories in paper—or word processor—about. Though soon we will be and you will know when that day has come.

-Blink- Wow… That is a very hard 'power' to portray. I hope that came out right you guys. I can't exactly tell you what—erm—power it is or you'll google it and ruin all my fun. Although if you guess I won't mind!


	2. The Second Chapter

In The Eyes Of The Beholder

Chapter 2

By Shyro Foxfeather

Kaito furiously rang the doorbell of his 'doppelganger's' house. Shinichi was home. He _knew _Shinichi was home. He knew this because a few noticeable thoughts ran through his head that certainly _did not_ belong to him. This was about the time he started playing 'Deck The Halls' with the doorbell.

-Who on earth is THAT? Whoever it is their going to pay for making me lose that game of Twister. I was winning dammit-

Kaito blinked. Oh…kay. That was…new. Oh well, he shrugged, weirder things _have _happened lately.

-He he he. I'll have ta thank that doorbell guy for makin' Kudo-kun trip over his foot like that.-

…Heiji was here too? Kaito idly wondered how one was to play twister with only two people. 'Not that I couldn't do it, of course. I wonder who would play with me? Probably Hakuba…'

His thoughts were interrupted by the teenage figure of one Shinichi Kudo looming in the open doorway while scowling at him.

(Imperative Author's Notice: As this is a sequel to 'Do Not Mess With Funky Gems' and in that story Kudo was still stuck as Conan; Chaos, Logic, and I have declared that he had merely used an AP pill to shrink down so he could do some undercover work. They were made to only last 24 hours like the prototype antidote pills. Seriously, in the Conan VS Kid VS Yaiba OVA he uses some type of medicine to transform three times in a row. I'm pretty sure it won't kill 'im.)

"Kuroba-kun…?" Kudo's annoyance faded to confusion. "What are you doing here?"

"Is it a crime to visit my cousin? Sheesh!" Kaito huffed dramatically.

"Oi, Kudo-kun! Who's at the door?" A voice from the depths of the house called out. It belonged to the 'Detective Of The West' Hattori Heiji, of course.

"Just Kaito-ku," Before he could finish his sentence Heiji came racing out of the darkness.

"Kuroba-kun! How are you?" He asked happily. Heiji had a very odd fondness for Kaito that used to confuse Kaito immensely. It turned out to be because they shared an equally strange and disturbing sense of humor that not many could lay claim to.

Sometimes Kaito wondered if those two were gay. However, Shinichi was too in love with Ran and Heiji was too in denial about Kazuha to ever swing that certain direction. Although, if Ran and Kazuha weren't around he would've been a lot more alarmed by them playing 'Twister'.

"Well," Kaito began knowing that telling them his problem would ruin a lot of potential pranks. "I have a problem."

Inside…

"So," Heiji began, "You can basically read minds?" Heiji asked in a mixture of awe and disbelief. He may have been a comical person, but he wasn't dim-witted.

"Yup." Kaito sighed ruefully. "It's driving me up the wall. I don't _want _to know these things but I can't filter what goes in my head nowadays."

"Well… It does explain the ice cream incident now doesn't?" Shinichi murmured, hand on chin.

"Right. Okay mister hotshot phantom thief. What am I thinking of now?" Heiji asked in a wry tone. Kaito was, after all, known to pull pranks. It was even in his job description!

"Erm." Kaito paused a second. "You're wondering where Kazuha buys her hair ribbons seeing as you keep stealing them from her."

Heiji froze eyes wide and mouth sputtering.

Shinichi snickered. "Wow. I officially have a knew respect for you Kaito-kun." Shinichi praised. "I've never seen him _ever _shut up so quickly!"

Outside…

The pulling sensation driving Hakuba forward was beginning to recede into the back of his mind again. It had begun to do so right after it led them to the iron gate of the house he had _somehow _envisioned.

Akako leaned toward Hakuba with an all-knowing smirk on her face. "Now Hakuba-kun. How on earth did we end up here? This seems to be," She paused making an obvious job of reading the address plaque, "Kudo-kun's house, is it not? Why on earth would he be _here?_"

"I don't know." Hakuba grumped. "He just _is_!"

Aoko looked back and forth between the two. "Is there something I'm missing here? I feel kind of out of the loop."

"Nothing dear Aoko-chan. Nothing at all. It's just that Hakuba-kun seems to have developed some kind of telepathic link with our dear Kaito-kun."

"I have not!" Hakuba hollered defensively.

"Yeah, Akako-chan, that weird psychic stuff doesn't exist. It's just for the mentally unstable!" Aoko berated.

Hakuba paled and Akako had to physically keep herself from cracking up.

Aoko huffed. "Fine then! I'll prove it to you both!" She then proceeded to drag them both forward by their hand to the front doors of the house. Akako was laughing so hard by now that she could scarcely catch her breath.

Aoko's finger angrily slammed the doorbell, which in turn made the current occupants of the house jump.

A few seconds later the door was opened by none other than Hattori Heiji. Not that they knew whom he was save for Hakuba who made a muffled yelp of surprise from behind Aoko.

"Sorry to bother you," Aoko began in a much politer tone, "but is there a black spiky haired idiot with dark blue eyes here?" Aoko asked slowly becoming a little more than irate.

Heiji blinked. "Erm yeah." At the answer Aoko took on a surprised look. "We've got two of 'em. Why don't'cha come on in and take your pick?"

With that he opened the door wider and waited until everyone had filed in before shutting it again.

"They're in the library." Heiji motioned to the door at the end of the hall as the walked.

Aoko and Akako were spending a good deal of time gawking at the mere size of the house. Meanwhile, Hakuba vaguely wondered if Kuroba was cheating on him. The he had to promptly reprimand himself for such thoughts.

The door to the library swung open with a creaky groan.

"Kaito!" Aoko bellowed as she spotted and charged the boy who had been innocently sitting on the couch and eating a muffin. Needless to say she had gotten the wrong person, as Kaito _never _did anything innocently.

Or ate muffins.

Hakuba blinked as the boy jumped from his seat—dropping the poor muffin (dutifully named Harold by Heiji) in the process—and scurried away from the mad female.

Kaito watched enthusiastically from his spot on the ledge of the bookshelf that lined the walls all the way around. They were mighty tall after all. "Yay Aoko! Get Kudo! Huzzah! Huzzah!" He cheered absently wishing he had some popcorn.

Akako and Hakuba now peered up at him, as did Aoko. She gave an embarrassed yelp and jumped away from the twitching and hyperventilating look a like.

"If-if… You're you then…" Aoko murmured. "Who's he?"

Kaito laughed and hopped down from his elevated hiding place. He walked over, pulled the boy up, and announced.

"This here be my dear cousin Shinichi Kudo! Who narrowly missed having a book implanted in his head, ne?" Kaito beamed.

This really seemed to break Hakuba's brain. Shinichi Kudo, the famous detective, was the cousin to Kaito Kuroba, the famous thief!

The day's events finally took a tool on the poor detective. The next thing he saw was the carpet and then darkness.

"Wow!" Kaito applauded. "He really _is _British! He fainted just like a one of them!"

Pause.

"Well… A female one anyway…"

TBC…

Disclaimer: Nor my minions or I are the caretakers of the animes we engrave stories in paper—or word processor—about. Though soon we will be and you will know when that day has come.

Even though I dislike putting author's notes in stories I thought it would be appropriate to put it there seeing as a good amount of people don't read the ones at the bottom (or top) anymore.

Also, I really needed to end the chapter there seeing as it was approaching a place in the plot that has no possible ending points. Heh.

As you may have noticed it is blatantly obvious Hakuba -likes- Kaito. It's still in debate whether Aoko does too. And it is not obvious whom Kaito likes but I like to lean more towards a Hakuba/Kaito pairing.

Hope you continue reading!


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